Fire on Fire

1. There's a special place in Hell for people like me

"It was awesome! So romantic!" Nancy grinned, grabbing a spoon to savor the lemon cheesecake mousse the waiter had just brought. "Alex was amazing and sooo hot!"

Emma grimaced for a moment on his behalf: he hated being called that. A second later, however, she remembered who was she talking to and what had she been doing behind her friend's back, therefore grimaced a second time, out of guilt. At each word Nancy proffered, at each recount of the amazing weekend she'd spent with her boyfriend, Emma felt more and more sick to her gut. She couldn't continue like that. Nancy ought to know.

Hello, gorgeous ... up for a midnight snack?

A message broke through Emma's thoughts. Speak of the devil ... she mentally rolled her eyes. Knowing full well that Nancy was too engulfed in her vivid description of the time spent with 'Alex' to pay attention to her, Emma replied to his text:

I'm with your girlfriend right now!

Why did he keep on messaging? Last night she'd told him: it was over. Why couldn't he understand just how deeply that affair was tearing her apart? Every time, he silenced her with a kiss, and every single time, she fell for it, only to feel worse and worse when she stood from his bed.

Two months. She had been lying to her only friend for two entire months. Emma couldn't take it anymore, so she'd broken it off, but apparently, he hadn't gotten the memo.

I need to see you

Alexander sent. Emma sighed perceptibly enough for anyone to notice, but Nancy was still going on and on about her wonderfully romantic weekend.

You need your fix, that's more like it

She gritted her teeth while pressing send. It was a lost cause, he just would never accept that their affair should have ended after the first night, continuing made them both the worst of the worst. Sense of guilt gnawed at her every single day and night, yet he didn't seem bothered at all. Maybe he'd done this before, maybe she was just the umpteenth woman he cheated on his girlfriend with. Maybe that was one more reason to tell Nancy. She ought to know her oh, so perfect Alex was a serial cheater, didn't she?

Hey, I said midnight snack, not sex

The nerve! How dare he? Not only he led her into temptation, he even dared joke about it. Stupid sexy devil. If only his touch wasn't so intoxicating, if only her knees didn't quiver every time he touched her, if only her heart didn't go ablaze every time he kissed her.

Emma shook her head: excuses, only excuses. It was her fault as much as his, claiming he was irresistible was only a way for her to relieve her conscience, which she didn't deserve. When would she ever learn not to entangle with the wrong people? Her history with men should have taught her better.

Don't you feel guilty? You've been together for a year now!

Emma tried one more time to make him reason. Nancy hadn't noticed anything, she was still too taken by her interminable monologue. Her friend was very much in love with her own voice, Emma was well aware – and after all, what lawyer wasn't?

A: Guilt has been my loyal companion all my life, I'm used to it

She frowned. What was that supposed to mean? Emma was also well aware that Alexander was way more than what the eyes met, in two months even she had noticed that behind the ragged beauty, behind the sexy tattoos and the annoying smartass there was something deeper.

That fiery gaze of his hid demons she wasn't ready to unravel. And those scars ... she'd never dared touch that tattooed skin after the first night, but there were times when she just couldn't avoid thinking, wondering, pondering. But alas, it wasn't her place to ask nor know.